The Deer Hunter (1978)

As a whole, The Deer Hunter feels less like a war focused film; instead, Vietnam and the war serves as a backdrop and an influence on the three main characters at least. This is important to note up front, because this makes The Deer Hunter an interesting study of the main characters before, during, and after the war.The beginning of the movie is long and slow, but it works to show the details of Mike, Nick, and Stevie. We get a good idea from his wedding and the circumstances of his bride, Angela's, pregnancy that he is a naive, but faithful and well meaning young man, who sees a big future ahead of them. Nick shows himself as an optimistic romantic, looking to work in the best of his friends' actions in the hunting trip and at the same time, play by Mike's rules. He also spends much time showing how much he cares for Linda, and openly comments about how he loves the small steel town he lives and works in. Mike, on the other hand, is much less of a romantic, and despite his naked run after the wedding, is shown to have a set of rules he lives by, and this includes his dedication to his friends, and the promise he makes to Nick to bring him home.Being in Vietnam changes things, especially the russian roulette scenes. Stevie, with his emotional naive nature, handles it poorly and winds up in a cage full of water and rats because he misses his head with the bullet. Mike, with his strict rules and self compass, fares better because he is the one who can steel himself against death, and ultimately is mostly responsible for their escape. He tries with Nick, but... Nick can't handle it. Having to play russian roulette against Mike while being encouraged by Mike to do it for their escape breaks him, and this impacts his portrayal from then on.By the end, Stevie is paralyzed and missing both legs, Mike is living with psychological trauma from both his experiences in war, and also the results of his attempt to rescue Nick, who was playing russian roulette professionally in Vietnam. Being forced to do it by Mike has left him in a broken state, and when Mike comes to rescue him, he blows his brains out in a russian roulette match in a disturbingly tragic way. "One shot" indeed. The line shows just how far he had fallen from before, and how much spite he had for Mike inside for the entire experience. Despite Mike's best efforts, he couldn't bring Nick back, even if he technically kept the promise and brought him home. That ending sort of broke my heart too, and I think it was a great way to hammer home the emotional message of the movie. Good movie overall. Would recommend.

I was looking forward to this film with all my heart but the results were frustrating. The plot is weak, relying on the sock scenes. There are problems with the pace of the film, making some moments feel unearned. And the representation of the Vietnam war is ludicrous, not an ounce of truth to be found. I suppose that it is not the film intention to be a war film but the thing is that it fails miserably at its true objective. There are films like Born on the 4th of July that have made a perfect role in translating the scars and social rupture of the war in the USA landscape.

1978's The Deer Hunter is one of the more polarizing movies to come out during the 1970's. It was the first movie with the deeply controversial subject of the Vietnam War to both become a critical and commercial success. However, there were several people who expressed dissent ranging from its portrayal of the Vietnam War to the controversial involvement of Russian roulette to the singing of "God Bless America." I remember not being too impressed with the film the first time I viewed it. I felt it was too long and violent. Years later, I am singing a different tune. It's a difficult film to sit through because of its violence and the effects of PTSD (post-trauma syndrome). But it is a highly engaging and effective film and I regard it as one of the more influential American movies of the 1970's. Not the best, but the most influential because there will be more successful films tackling the Vietnam War on the horizon.You can call this movie a symphony of some sort. I sort this film into three major segments. The first segment is the longest because of its lengthy and effective characterization. We meet three Pennsylvania factory workers: Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), and Nick (Christopher Walken). They enlisted in the army to serve in Vietnam. Steven decides to marry before going off to war and this wedding also serves as the farewell party. This section is eerily reminiscent of the opening act of The Godfather. There is lots of partying and dancing. And we essentially get to know these characters. These men are hard workers who get drunk at the party because they deserve a night for themselves. After the party, the trio of friends along with another friend Stan (John Cazale) go into the mountains to hunt for deer for one last trip. Hence the title of the movie. I found this section to be incredibly effective in character-building. Director Michael Cimino took his time with his part because it was important to understand these men before they go into the horrors of war.The second movement of our symphony is the actual war. Just like that with a loud noise, the film instantly changes its tone. From the foggy mountains of Pennsylvania to the tropical war zone of Vietnam we go. In one of the most terrifying sequences ever made, the three men are taken prisoner and are forced to play Russian roulette while their captors are betting who will win and who will die. Just seeing the men's faces as they are waiting their turn in the rat-infested cages are undeniably scary. One of the film's controversies is that roulette was not actually played in Vietnam. According to Cimino, he read articles saying they did play roulette although any of this has not been confirmed. But it's one hell of a way to add tension to the movie. You can also take this as a symbol for the war overall. Roger Ebert puts it perfectly in his review, "Anything you can believe about the game, about it's deliberately random violence, about how it touches the sanity of men forced to play it, will apply it to the war as a whole." Essentially, this violence stands for the war itself and what these men face. Now our final act of the symphony is what happens after the horrors of the prison camp. Michael becomes a prominent character here as he returns home and is welcomed as a hero by his townsfolk and his girlfriend Linda (Meryl Streep). But Michael does not feel like a hero. Steven is in the hospital after losing his legs and Nick is somewhere in Vietnam still. Michael eventually goes back to find Nick who happened to take his roulette experiences to heart by playing this game professionally. This section is incredibly sad and moving as here we see what exactly war can do to strong-willed men. It was horrible to watch this transformation on screen. To see these characters we got to laugh with in the first part to seeing them play with death in the final act is sad to see. We also get to see an act of patriotism (or is it?) when the survivors join in a ragged rendition of "God Bless America" in the very end. This movie has a very strong cast, although the only star at the time was Robert De Niro. De Niro instantly became the film's leader and he played Michael very well. He became a bona fide star after his work in The Godfather: Part Two, and he put that stardom to work here. Christopher Walken had some of the strongest scenes in the movie because of his involvement with the deadly game of Russian roulette. Meryl Streep is one of the greatest actresses ever to grace our screens, and this was one of her first big roles. We end this paragraph with a sad note. This would be the last movie John Cazale would play because he was suffering from terminal cancer and he died before the film was released. He was very good as Stan, but you can tell in the movie that he was really sick.Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter is a incredible movie about the horror of wars and it effective covers themes ranging from PTSD to male bonding and friendship. It was one of the first movies to successfully cover the Vietnam War, although I'd say this film may not be the most accurate regarding the actual war. I do commend its effort on conveying the themes of general war though. This film was nominated for nine Oscars and it won five of them including Best Picture. Walken took home the statue for his amazing and tense performance as Nick. The film may be controversial and it may be hard to watch, but it's one you'll remember forever. My Grade: A-

The Deer Hunter is a Drama/War movie starring Robert De Niro as Michael. Robert plays the role of Michael well and portrays his character as a friendly, polite, creative man who likes to pull people's legs, and he is also a control freak. His goal is to always kill the deer on the first shot and takes this very seriously. The Deer Hunter takes place mostly in Pennsylvania and is about how the US-Vietnam war effects a small industrial town. This is one of the most interesting and unique war movies that I have watched. The way music is used in the production, the excellent work of the cast and the amazing authentic set designs make this film stand out from other war films. The film was a bit longer than I would have liked it to be and there are not many battle scenes. The beginning of the movie has some very light and funny moments which quickly turn into a dark and scary atmosphere, and then into a sad and dramatic mood. The music suits the atmosphere throughout and does an excellent job at taking you through the different settings and allowing you to connect to the characters and story on an emotional level. The timing of the music or lack thereof is done on purpose to add dramatic effect and to give the viewer an idea of what is to come. In the light and funny moments, there are fun love songs playing and being sung and danced along with by the cast in a very entertaining way. The dark scenes are accompanied by scary and mysterious music at the beginning of the scene before any dialogue begins. The actors that were chosen to play each part were authentic, intriguing, and excellent performers. Robert De Niro does an excellent job as the lead of this film, commanding every scene. From the beginning of the movie, this facial expressions and tone reveal much about his personality. In the locker room, we see De Niro character interacting with the other men in the room by shaking each person's hands and grinning profusely. Later on in the film, De Niro must portray the guilt that his character Michael is feeling after falling in love with his injured best friend's partner. Words need not be spoken to convey how Michael's character was feeling inside about the entire situation. The Deer Hunter had beautiful and intriguing set designs. It is obvious that a big chunk of the budget as well as a lot of time, research, and creativity was put into each one. My favourite setting was the church that the wedding was at. It was stunning and it looked very authentic for the time and location that the movie takes place. The church was huge and white with many candles all around and on the pews. There was a choir performing at the front and the aisles full of attendees. There were Jesus and Mary paintings all around and glass stained windows. The big grand chandelier was lovely and romantic as were the many vases of white flowers. I would recommend that anyone who is a fan of Classic Drama War movies to give this film a watch. Although the film is over 3 hours long I feel that it is worth the time that it takes to watch it since there are so much depth and so many interesting scenes. For a war movie, you may expect there to be more battle scenes that are shown in The Deer Hunter, but this is because the movie focuses more on the effects that war has after the battle is over. If I did not already have free access to this film through my Netflix subscription it would be worth it to purchase it as I will definitely watch it again someday. The Deer Hunter is a film that will take you on a roller coaster ride of emotion's as it takes you through the lives of young men and women living in a small town during the war. The boys go out hunting after the wedding is done and before they head out to the war knowing that their lives are about to change forever. This movie is great to watch because of the intense music, the incredible performance of the actors, and the beautiful settings. I would give this movie a 9/10 for the effort put into casting, writing, and creating the costumes/settings.